> If you don't have protected mode, can't any program just rewrite the interrupt handler?
Yes? It's still possible to make it safe if you ensure that all programs are written in a memory safe language. Aside from throwing out a ton of existing code it's not as bad as it sounds. The Birth and Death of JavaScript touches on it towards the end.
Yeah, that works for making sure the machine isn't constantly crashing.
Although from a security point of view it's still very bad. Every compiler / JIT has bugs, and bugs that let you write to random or arbitrary memory adresses are a rather common kind.
It's debatable! Most system software is written in memory unsafe languages right now and probably has more bugs than something like V8. Keep in mind that JavaScript runtimes are built for downloading and running untrusted code on your system.
Yes? It's still possible to make it safe if you ensure that all programs are written in a memory safe language. Aside from throwing out a ton of existing code it's not as bad as it sounds. The Birth and Death of JavaScript touches on it towards the end.
https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death...